


Familia: Not Simple, but Needed

by The_Mouse_of_Anon



Series: Bluepulse Week (in the OT3) [6]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Bart's taking this better than Jaime and Khaji Da, Day 6: Family, Fluff, Khaji Da you seriously need to go to sleep, Multi, Soooo much fluff, and probably not wake up for a day or two, bluepulse week 2016, sleep-deprived scarab
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 05:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9221516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Mouse_of_Anon/pseuds/The_Mouse_of_Anon
Summary: In hindsight the three of them should have known that something was bound to happen thanks to Khaji Da not having slept for about three weeks. However this was definitely one thing neither Jaime or Bart would have ever expected.((Written for Day 6 of Bluepulse Week 2016.))





	

In hindsight the three of them should have known that _something_ was bound to happen thanks to Khaji Da not having slept for about three weeks. Even though Khaji Da didn’t need as much sleep as Jaime or Bart, that didn’t change the fact that three weeks was _way_ too long to go without sleep. Bart and Jaime had both tried several times to encourage the scarab to go to sleep, but he had brushed it off by insisting he was doing _vitally important_ research and that he _would_ go to sleep, he promised, he just needed to get his research _done_. Really, it was amazing that Khaji Da hadn’t started hallucinating or being completely incoherent (although there _had_ been an uptick in the frequency of his off-the-wall comments). All of this led to the situation the three of them found themselves in now.

Oddly enough, Bart had been the first one to wake up. And when he rolled over to snuggle closer to Jaime and Khaji Da the very first thing he saw was blue— on the pillow next to Jaime’s head and _not_ connected in any way to Jaime or Khaji Da. That had been weird enough, but when he sat up to get a better look at the thing it was very obvious what the little blue thing was— or at least what it looked like. For a moment Bart had thought his mind had been playing tricks on him, so he had closed his eyes and quickly shook his head, but when he opened his eyes again it had still been there— a small blue scarab, about as wide as Bart’s palm (with the legs included), resting on the pillow.

Bart had gently shaken Jaime awake while saying, “Jaime. Hey Jaime, _wake up!_ ”

“Mmf… What?” Jaime had croaked.

“Wake up. You need to see this.”

Jaime had grudgingly sat up, looked at Bart, looked where Bart had directed his attention— and then _stared_. “ _…Que rayos?_ ”

“I don’t know. I just woke up and it was there.”

Jaime had glanced back over his shoulder and said, “Khaji Da, I know you’re awake. Mind explaining?”

Khaji Da had been considerate enough to switch out control with Jaime so both of them could hear him, but it had been all too obvious how awkward he’d felt. One long and thoroughly sheepish explanation later— most easily summed up as “I was awake for far too long and at some point began wondering if it was possible to create an AI separate from myself and due to sleep deprivation I proceeded to find out if I could do so without stopping to think if I _should_ ”— it was all too clear the situation they were in.

The three of them were silent for a moment or two after Khaji Da had finished his explanation. Finally Bart scooped up the little scarab in his hand and gently pet along their carapace, earning a pleased little chirp that caught them all by surprise. “What should we call them?”

Khaji Da looked distinctly uncertain before quietly saying, “Taking into account my error in judgement due to my lack of sleep I do not think I am in the best position to be making such a decision at this time.” He definitely wasn’t being as succinct as usual. He clearly needed to go to sleep, _badly_.

Bart lifted the tiny scarab up to be at his eye-level and said, “Well you’re awfully cute. We’ve gotta find you a good name.” He ran the fingers of his other hand in an almost tickling motion over the little scarab’s carapace, eliciting another pleased noise as they squirmed a little.

Jaime slipped back into control and gave Bart a dubious look. “You’re awfully relaxed about this.”

Bart shrugged. “I know we said we didn’t want to be parents, but the kid is here. This is our baby. I mean, what else would you call them? ‘Cause I’m not gonna pull what Clark did to Kon on our kid.”

Jaime winced at that. True, the relationship between Kon and Clark was far better now than it had been in the beginning, but the stories they had heard about how Clark originally wanted nothing to do with Kon had left an impression. Raking a hand through his hair, Jaime said, “Great. Parents. _Mi abuela_ is going to be happy at least.”

“…Think Milagro’s gonna laugh at us?”

“Are you kidding? She’ll probably be making cracks about the three of us having ‘alien babies’ for a _month_.”

Bart’s attention was caught by the little scarab trying to wrap two of their tiny legs around his fingers. Giving a smile, he brought the scarab closer to his chest and was pleasantly surprised at how they snuggled close and gave another happy little chirp— kind of like a kitten really… His smile slowly widened. “I think I just thought of a name.”

“What?” Jaime and Khaji Da said simultaneously in a familiar dual-voice that Bart had come to love.

“Khaji Ki,” Bart beamed.

“Ki?” Jaime asked. “Khaji Da, does that mean anything in Reach?”

“…The closest word would translate as ‘needed’.”

Jaime’s eyes flicked back to Bart while Khaji Da’s gold faded from them. “But I doubt you knew that.”

“Nope,” Bart grinned in agreement.

“Then why Ki? I get why you’d suggest ‘Khaji’, but ‘Ki’ seems a little random _mi corazón_.”

Bart motioned with his head to the little scarab in his hands, curled against his chest. “They’re cute. They’re almost like a kitten. So, ‘kitten’— Ki. It’s adorable.”

“…You are _not_ seriously naming our kid after an animal,” Jaime deadpanned.

“Not technically. Khaji Da said that Ki could be translated as ‘needed’ and that’s not terrible. Better than some names. And there’s _no way_ I’d do something so dumb like naming our baby ‘Bob’ or ‘Steve’,” he said, stressing ‘Bob’ and ‘Steve’ with a ridiculous voice.

Both Jaime and Khaji Da were in agreement. “You’re weird.”

Bart shrugged. “You both love me and I don’t hear either of you coming up with names. So unless you’re gonna come up with something better, I think Khaji Ki is adorable.” Turning his attention to the scarab cuddled up to him, he asked (in a tone that made it abundantly clear that he’d already lost his heart to that tiny little life), “What do you think? Should your name be Khaji Ki?”

A happy and thoroughly adorable chitter erupted from the tiny being.

“Khaji Ki has spoken,” Bart beamed.

Jaime paused, sighed, and then said, “I’m going to make coffee. I need to be fully awake when I call my parents to tell them that a certain scarab _who needs to finally go to sleep_ made them grandparents.”

[ _Apologies,_ ] Khaji Da said, giving Jaime every impression of— if it was possible— wanting to shrink back or hide in flustered embarrassment.

***

“ _Mamí_ , you’re probably going to want to sit down,” Jaime said.

Bart was watching him restlessly pace in the kitchen. Jaime had downed two cups of coffee already and was working on his third while he was talking on the phone with his mother. Meanwhile Bart sat at the kitchen island with Khaji Ki in front of him, playing with the little scarab as he put the tip of his finger on the tip of one tiny leg only for Ki to pull their leg out from underneath his finger to put it on top, over and over. Every now and then Bart would dart his hand forward (at a fairly slow speed) to tap Khaji Ki where the equivalent of a nose would have been, which prompted Khaji Ki to skitter away a little bit, wait, and then come skittering back to ‘attack’ his finger again. No question about it, Bart already loved this kid.

“—yes you heard right. Khaji Da did something seriously irresponsible due to a lack of sleep… No, no one died… He didn’t sleep for _three weeks_ … Well the reason I bring it up is because, thanks to the fact that he wasn’t thinking clearly, he up and decided to see if he could create another AI completely independent of himself… _Sí Mamí_ , Khaji Da unintentionally gave you a grandchild… Yeah… I _know_ how she’s going to react and I’m kind of dreading it. Especially considering the last talk I had with her about how I wasn’t going to give her great-grandchildren… Tell her for me? _Por favor_?”

Bart tuned back out to scoop up Khaji Ki and plant a kiss on them, prompting a delighted chitter that was as close to a laughing squeal as a scarab was likely to get. Looking up to Jaime as he briefly glanced over to the two of them, Bart mouthed out, “Ki is _adorable_. Tell her!”

“…Of _course_ I’m going to tell Dad. Why wouldn’t I— …He’s playing with them at the moment…” Jaime briefly covered the mouth-piece and said, “She wants to talk to you.”

Bart held out his hand to receive the phone, and once he had it he greeted Bianca with, “Hello greatest-mother-in-law-in-existence. What’d you wanna talk to me about, beyond the obvious?”

“Talking like that might earn you points normally, but not this time,” Bianca said, her typical teasing of Bart creeping in out of habit. “Jaime tells me that Khaji Da gave me a grandchild.”

“Yup. Adorable as can possibly be,” Bart agreed.

“And that you found this out this morning.”

“Yeah. I woke up first, then woke up Jaime. Like Jaime said, Khaji Da hasn’t slept in about three weeks. On the upside now we’ve got an absolutely adorable cuddle-bug for a kid.”

Bianca paused, and when she next spoke Bart could _hear_ her amusement at the fact that he’d had his heart stolen so thoroughly. “Have the three of you thought of a name?”

“You didn’t ask Jaime?” Bart asked in genuine surprise.

“ _Mijo_ , in case you haven’t noticed my son still seems to be in shock over suddenly being a parent, Khaji Da needs to go to sleep if he hasn’t already, and you have the advantage of processing time differently than most. So it only logically makes sense that if anyone is going to be coherent enough for this conversation _right now_ it’s you.”

“…Good point,” he admitted while aiming a sheepish glance at Jaime. “Their name is Khaji Ki. I thought it was appropriate, scarab and all, and plus Ki in Reach can be translated as ‘needed’.”

“It’s a good name,” Bianca agreed before her tone took on a teasing (and slightly warning) edge, “and one thing I can think of that the four of you need to do is get over here soon to introduce Khaji Ki to the family.”

“Will do. Want Jaime back?”

“ _Sí_. And if you haven’t yet Bart, call your _familia_ and tell them or I will.”

“Yes ma’am.”

As Bart passed the phone back to Jaime he said, “Your mother is black-mailing me again.”

Bart could hear Bianca’s voice emanating from the phone as she and Jaime simultaneously said, “It only counts as blackmail if it’s bad for you.”

He made a face. “Sure. Talk sense. Come on Khaji Ki.” Bart held the little scarab close and went to leave the kitchen to get his phone. “Let’s go make some calls before your _abuela_ decides to make the entire family swarm me.”


End file.
